RELATIONSHIP FOUNDATIONS WORKSHOP

RELATIONSHIP FOUNDATIONS WORKSHOP

Join us for a seminar on the specific issues we face in grad school, and ways to handle them. Sign up here for this session on TODAY at 3-4pm!

In collaboration with Waterloo and Western University, we are hosting a Student Supervisor Relationships! In this workshop, Dr. Natalia Lapshina will cover the research findings from her doctoral student-supervisor study, discuss some real examples of student-supervisor relationships, as well as strategies for improving these relationships, and finish with a Q&A section for all attendees!

Facilitator Information: Dr. Natalia Lapshina completed her doctoral program in Psychology at Western in 2015. Her research interests cover several areas including: experiences of trauma, abuse and discrimination at work; mental health and resilience; supervisory relationships. Throughout her employment at Western, she has mentored and supervised a number of graduate students. Their stories motivated a research project on doctoral student-supervisor relationships that was conducted at Western in collaboration with SOGS.

IN HONOUR OF FREDERICK MORFAW

IN HONOUR OF FREDERICK MORFAW

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Dr. Frederick Morfaw; a friend, colleague, and alumni of the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) at McMaster. Prior to coming to McMaster, Frederick was a Cameroonian obstetrician. Frederick joined the HEI community in 2017 to pursue his Ph.D. in Health Research Methodology under the supervision of Dr. Lehana Thabane. In 2017-2019, he was a member of the African Caribbean Graduate Students’ Association (ACGSA) and several met him at our events.

Following the completion of his Ph.D. in the summer of 2019, Frederick worked as a Research Fellow in Perinatal Clinical Epidemiology with McMaster’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He will be missed by many members of the ACGSA that knew him to be a kind, generous, and gracious soul. As well as, an exemplary student, that completed his Ph.D. in record time and mentored and helped many others.

Our deepest condolences to Frederick’s wife, Laura, and their three lovely children: Vanessa, Prince Henry, and Ricka. Please consider visiting the fundraiser for Frederick by HEI on their GoFundMe page and contribute towards raising money for Frederick’s family.

Written by friend and President of the African-Caribbean Graduate Student Association (ACGSA), Tafadzwa Machipisa.

At the GSA, we have made a contribution of $500 to the GoFundMe in fundraising efforts for Frederick’s family.

*SNAP* YOUR WAY TO A PRIZE

*SNAP* YOUR WAY TO A PRIZE

Submit your photos to our two categories for a chance to win gift card prizes this summer, and be highlighted on SciGSA newsletters and social media! Our categories are: “What’s your Sci?”, including any research, analysis, or fieldwork; and “Summer Livin'” with any home activities (ex. baking/cooking, gardening, summer adventures…etc.). 
Deadline: Monday, July 13th at 5pm to scigsa@mcmaster.ca 

HSR AND THE GSA

HSR AND THE GSA

We are actively working on the best agreement for graduate students using HSR in the 2020-2021 school year given COVID-19 pandemic and the change in day-to-day usage of the bus. If you would like to provide feedback ahead of our meeting with HSR next week on behalf of all the graduate students at McMaster University, please fill out this survey. We hope to capture all of your feedback in that survey to best inform the conversation, which is still ongoing.

Your GSA

GSA Guide for Remote Work

GSA Guide for Remote Work

Resources:

Tips:

Here are 14 quick tips to make online teaching better, from an expert in online learning.

1. Record your lectures – don’t stream them

If students are unwell or are struggling with internet access, they will miss a live streamed lecture. Record videos instead and send them to your students so that they can watch in their own time.

2. Show your face

Research has shown that lecture videos that show instructors’ faces are more effective than simple narrated slideshows. Intersperse your slides with video of yourself.

3. Keep videos short

Videos longer than 15 minutes can cause issues of slow downloading and learner distraction. If you have more to say, record two or three short videos.

4. Test out slides

Make sure you test slides on a smartphone before shooting your lectures so all text is readable on small screens. Font sizes, colours, template designs and screen ratios can be double-checked.

5. Use existing resources …

It is unrealistic to expect that you, on your own, will produce a semester’s worth of high quality videos. You can use pre-developed resources available online and provide students with clickable links.

6. … and make sure they’re open access

Using open resources helps prevent access problems for students. If any of your suggested resources are not accessible, you will receive an inbox full of student emails and eventually waste all your time troubleshooting. Spending a few extra minutes carefully searching for fully open access materials will save you a headache later.

7. Give specific instructions

When you suggest online media which runs for longer than 15 minutes, students will be put off watching. Instead, suggest the exact parts they need (eg 13:35 to 16:28) as this can even make students more curious. When you provide more than two resources, label them in the order you want students to approach them. Simple numbering, based on the level of difficulty or importance of each resource item, can be of great help for your students.

8. Provide interactive activities

Most learning management systems, such as Moodle, Edmodo and Blackboard, include a range of functions to create interactive learning activities such as quizzes. Step-by-step guides to creating them are widely available online. Use them.

9. Set reasonable expectations

When you create quizzes, you should make sure all questions can be answered by referring to the given learning resources. When you ask students to write a summary of lecture videos, you should make it clear that this is not a serious report. Making this as a mandatory assignment but a low-stakes task will produce the best outcomes and responses from students. A set of 15 quiz questions or a 300-word limit will be sufficient to engage students for 30 minutes.

10. Use auto-checking to measure attendance

If you tell students that their attendance will be measured by their participation in a quiz, it will increase compliance. However, you won’t have time to check them all, so use the automatic checking and grading features on the learning management systems.

11. Use group communication carefully

Group communication shouldn’t be used for direct teaching. Instead, set up “virtual office hours” on a video conferencing tool like Zoom. Simply log in at the appointed time and wait for students. Focus on providing social support and checking if any issues need to be addressed immediately. This can be a great way to collect student feedback on your online teaching as well. Make meetings optional and be relaxed. No need to be frustrated when no one shows up: students are still happy to know that this option is available.

12. Let students take control

You can set up online group spaces for small groups of students and ask them to support and consult with one another before sending emails to you directly. You can post a couple of questions to help students break the ice and start conversation. Encourage students to use the communication tools they prefer. Some groups will click well and some will not, but this little tip can make students feel socially supported and reduce your inbox traffic.

13. Don’t hide your feelings

Online teachers’ emotional openness is a great instructional strategy. Tell your students that it is your first time teaching online and you are learning while teaching. Explicitly ask them to help you, reassuring them that you will do your very best to support their learning as well. They will be sympathetic since they share the same emotions, and you will be set up for success.

14. Repeat

Online students do not like frequent changes in their learning style. They are happy to repeat the same structure and activities. Once you find a teaching style working for you, feel free to repeat it each week until you are back in your classroom.

Author – Kyungmee Lee

                 Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning, Lancaster University

CALLING ALL TECH LOVERS

CALLING ALL TECH LOVERS

Questions on current issues and challenges facing International Students during COVID-19? Join the discussion to get real-time answers from our panel of experts. 

Register now for FREE to attend the expert panel (June 23 at 6-7:30pm). Make sure you secure your spots at our Expert Panel on the labour market, career development and immigration issues in the technology industry.

Attend to win a “virtual door prize” for a FREE 1-hour consult valued at $59. A career counsellor will help the winner assess their career readiness and provide some insight on next steps.

The GSA McMaster Club, SEPTA, strives to build supportive communities to share knowledge. Here’s a great opportunity to meet industry professionals and peers to discuss the current labour market and your career development. You can follow SEPTA on LinkedIn for events, updates, and news!

GSA INTRODUCTION SERIES: GSA PRESIDENT

GSA INTRODUCTION SERIES: GSA PRESIDENT

Hey! I’m Shawn Hercules and I am your GSA President for this academic year. I work very closely along with the GSA’s strong executive and administrative team,  to continue advocating for your needs and providing you with resources to help make grad school a little more bearable! Specifically in my role, I chair our GSA Council and Board of Director meetings, and ensure that our executive and staff are working cohesively to bring us closer to our goals within our Strategic Plan

Outside of the GSA, I’m currently wrapping up a Ph.D. in Biology under the supervision of Dr. Juliet Daniel. My doctoral work is focused on investigating the potential impact of socioeconomics and genetics on why more Black women globally are diagnosed with a very aggressive and clinically hard to treat breast cancer subtype. In this study, we currently have patients enrolled from hospitals and health centres across Nigeria, Jamaica and my hometown Barbados. I moved here from Barbados to embark on this project in 2015 and I can’t believe that time flew by so quickly and it’s almost over! I’m leaning towards pursuing an academic career path and will likely work for a few years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow after my Ph.D.

Right now, my life is pretty much balancing my duties for both the GSA and my Ph.D. but I also try to make time to relax! Watching RuPaul’s Drag Race every Friday night along with a few friends on Zoom has pretty much been my route for escapism from everything COVID-19 related as well as the rest of the world’s recent realization of anti-Black racism. 

If you have any questions for me about how you can get involved with the GSA or even about my research, feel free to e-mail me at gsapres@mcmaster.ca (GSA related), hercules@mcmaster.ca (research related). You can also find me on Instagram/Twitter using @shawnhercules! 

MENTAL HEALTH WEBINAR CURATED 4 U!

MENTAL HEALTH WEBINAR CREATED 4 U!

Graduate School is tough at the best of times, and COVID-19 is not making things any easier. Join us for a seminar on the specific issues we face in grad school, and ways to handle them. Sign up here for this session on June 29th 4:30-6:30 pm!

The facilitator of the session is Ita Tobis, a clinical social worker (MSW, RSW) that has many years of experience working with children, adults, couples and families to implement healthy, healing changes in their lives. In her role as the Campus Director at JACS running the Courage2Change University Outreach Program, she creates customized student workshops and professional development sessions for various universities across Ontario on topics related to wellness, addictions and mental health.

UPDATES FROM GSA 2020-06-19

UPDATES FROM GSA

Graduate students at McMaster, we would like to highlight the recent annual report from the President’s Advisory Committee on Building an Inclusive Community. Other resources from PACBIC can be found here. There is always more that can be done at an individual level to be an anti-racist. We hope you have taken the time to reflect what changes you are making within each of the roles you hold at McMaster University. It is important to be aware of the events currently happening at McMaster University. You can consider joining the GSA Student Actions Committee by emailing macgsa@mcmaster.ca to indicate your interest.

We are putting out a call for Faculty Representatives to the GSA Council! This role connects the GSA and each of the faculties. We currently have vacancies for the three Faculties listed below. If you are interested, email Caroline, GSA VP-Internal about how to apply! 

Your GSA

JOIN A WEEKLY CALL with GSA President, Shawn Hercules, and Andrea Cole from the School of Graduate Studies! 

When?  Wednesdays between 1:00 PM until 2:00PM.
Where? Register for the Zoom link here.
What? Bring your coffee and come for a chat!
Questions? Andrea Cole coleand@mcmaster.ca

WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!

WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!

Congratulations to the four students that won prizes for GSA Short Video Competition! Here are the videos with links, and the top two are previewed below:

1. Grand Prize: Poodle playing with a small soccer ball by Chih Ting (https://youtu.be/K1xzGLZcYR0)
2. Second Place: Choose your graduate student quarantine edition by Lauren (https://youtu.be/Uo7jPqP1d-s)
3. Third Place: When you’re a clutz stuck at home and Yoshi’s life by Sergio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7B3uSXmLF8)
4. Fourth Place: Dog Egg Challenge by Monica (https://vm.tiktok.com/T53jGq/https://vm.tiktok.com/T53jGq/)

Thank you for participating and voting!